


can we always be this close?

by dahyunayeon



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24692866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahyunayeon/pseuds/dahyunayeon
Summary: The two times Dahyun comforts her girlfriends and the one time they comfort her.
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu/Kim Dahyun/Son Chaeyoung
Comments: 2
Kudos: 149





	can we always be this close?

**Author's Note:**

> commissioned by brit, i hope u enjoy it <3

**I.**

Chaeyoung’s palms are sweaty and her hands shake as she fiddles with the hard drive in her grasp. Tzuyu’s calm hand around her bicep is the only thing keeping her grounded— and keeping her from running away. Chaeyoung wishes Dahyun was there as well, but she had an important class she couldn’t skip. 

They’re standing in the reception of PJH, one of the top entertainment companies in the country, and Chaeyoung is waiting to meet the producer that will listen to her demos.

“You’re gonna get hurt if you don’t loosen up.” Tzuyu mutters in concern, rubbing a soothing thumb over the fabric of Chaeyoung’s hoodie.

“I can’t help being so nervous. I should’ve changed out of my uniform, they’re gonna think I’m a child.” Chaeyoung clenches her jaw and tugs her school skirt down. 

“They’re not supposed to judge _you,_ but what you made. And they’re gonna love it because it’s freaking awesome.” 

Chaeyoung looks up at Tzuyu and the tall girl kisses her forehead, easing her girlfriend’s nerves and making a slight blush spread on her cheeks. But Chaeyoung only gets to enjoy the peace for a few seconds, because the elevator opens and a woman with a clipboard and a coffee cup comes out. She eyes Chaeyoung up and down and then spares a glance at Tzuyu.

“Son Chaeyoung, right? Follow me.”

She doesn’t even let them answer before she starts walking towards an office down the hall, her heels clicking loudly against the tiles. She sits down at the end of the table and signals for the girls to do so too. The woman— Im Nayeon, according to her nametag —looks serious and everything about her screams business. She takes a sip of her coffee and stretches out her hand, doing a beckoning motion. Chaeyoung stays still until Tzuyu elbows her to react; then she scrambles to get up and gives Nayeon the hard drive. 

“You applied for the junior producer spot that opened up, and in your email you said you were gonna show us five songs, is that right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t call me that.” Nayeon mentions offhandedly as she plugs the drive into the computer. 

While Nayeon plays the demos, Chaeyoung takes deep breaths and tries to focus on Tzuyu’s hand holding hers under the table. Nayeon shows no expression as she listens, she barely nods her head to the beat of each song as she writes down a lot of things. Chaeyoung didn’t think there would be so much to say about her songs, but she’s praying to every deity she knows that it’s all good stuff.

When they’re done, Nayeon returns the hard drive to Chaeyoung. Nothing about her face or her voice betrays her actual thoughts, which only makes Chaeyoung more nervous. 

“I made a copy of the demos, you will be hearing back from us in about a week or two. If you don’t make it, we delete the demos, so don’t worry about that.” Nayeon gathers her papers as she gives Chaeyoung a polite nod, putting an end to the meeting. “Have a good day.”

Nayeon exits the office and leaves the girls there. Chaeyoung doesn't move from her seat; her eyes are unfocused staring at the spot where Nayeon was moments ago. Tzuyu can see her gulping and her hands clutching her skirt.

“Let’s go.” She tugs Chaeyoung’s hand to get her to stand up. Chaeyoung doesn’t resist and lets Tzuyu drag her out of the office and then out of the building.

Tzuyu knows Chaeyoung well enough to know what she’s thinking. And even if she didn’t, the sour look on her face would give her away. But Tzuyu also knows it’s useless to try to get her to talk right away, so she sidehugs Chaeyoung on their way out and hopes it’s enough to comfort her for now. 

The wait in the bus stop is quiet. Tzuyu bites her lip, worried, and looks at Chaeyoung every now and then. She’s not very good with words, much less in korean. She takes her phone out of her pocket and quickly texts Dahyun asking if she’s home already, to which the girl replies she is. Tzuyu briefly lets her know things didn’t go very well, and Dahyun tells her to come by her dorm. 

Dahyun is waiting for them, resting against the frame of the door. Her heart breaks a little when she sees how defeated Chaeyoung looks. She doesn’t even greet Dahyun properly, instead she walks past her and inside the room.

Tzuyu hugs Dahyun and pecks her before walking in. Chaeyoung is standing by the mini fridge, downing a glass of cold water. 

Dahyun takes a deep breath and steps forward. She takes Chaeyoung’s hand in hers and squeezes. Chaeyoung looks at her with teary eyes and a trembling lip. Dahyun brings her closer and hugs her tightly, rubbing up and down her back. She stretches an arm for Tzuyu to join them, so they end up sandwiching Chaeyoung while the girl sobs on Dahyun’s shoulder.

After a while when Chaeyoung has calmed down, they move to Dahyun’s bed where they lie together; with Chaeyoung curled up in between them. Dahyun spoons her and has her arm over her waist. Tzuyu’s hand rests on top of Dahyun’s and she brushes Chaeyoung’s hair off her face with the other to kiss her forehead and cheeks. 

Chaeyoung’s tears have dried by then, but she’s still a bit shaken up. 

“I’m a failure.” She whispers, speaking for the first time since they left the PJH building. 

“You know that’s not true.” Dahyun frowns and scolds her girlfriend. She hates that she can’t see how amazing she is. Still, no matter how much she loathes Chaeyoung’s harsh words, she knows her girlfriend needs to let them out.

“PJH was the last company left on my list. Ten other companies have turned me down and five of them didn’t even give me the chance to show them what I have. Tzuyu saw how it went— there’s no way I’m getting a callback.”

“To be fair, the building could’ve been overtaken by rats and that woman wouldn’t have reacted.”

“She didn’t react because she didn’t like my work. She was being nice by telling me they’ll be in contact.” Chaeyoung rubs her tired eyes and her lip starts to tremble again. “I have to face reality, I’ll never be a music producer. No matter how much I like it, I’m not made for it. I’m a failure.”

Dahyun sits up and makes Chaeyoung lie on her back so she can stare into her eyes. She’s upset and has to wipe a tear of her own. 

“Son Chaeyoung, you can and will be anything you want to be, alright? You’re crazy talented and if they don’t see that, they’re either insane or simply jealous you’re better than them. You work hard and you’re good at what you do, so don’t you dare say you’re anything less than amazing.”

Chaeyoung covers her face and breathes deeply, trying hard not to cry. Dahyun’s voice breaks as she speaks and Tzuyu feels a knot in her stomach seeing her girlfriends so distressed.

“If they call back, great! They recognized how talented you are. If they don’t, screw them, they’re missing out. Chaeyoungie, never let others define your worth, alright?”

Chaeyoung sits up as well and hugs Dahyun, shaking in her arms. Dahyun kisses her temple and then presses their heads together. Dahyun closes her eyes and breathes deeply to calm down.

“Thank you.” Chaeyoung whispers and snuzzles closer to Dahyun’s neck. Dahyun doesn’t say anything, she just rocks Chaeyoung slightly in her embrace. Tzuyu gets up and kisses each of their cheeks. She’s thankful for Dahyun always knowing how to deal with their problems, because she gets overwhelmed and ends up panicking more often than not. 

The three of them end up cuddling, watching Chaeyoung’s favorite movie until they fall asleep. 

**II.**

“Hey cutie.” Dahyun smiles and kisses Chaeyoung in front of the school building. “Where’s Tzu?”

“She didn’t come to school today, she texted me saying she didn’t feel well.” Chaeyoung sighs and grabs onto Dahyun’s hand. They start walking leisurely with no route in particular. Dahyun can see Chaeyoung is troubled, frowning as she kicks a pebble on the way.

“Was she sick or was she feeling down?”

Chaeyoung looks at Dahyun with guilty eyes and sighs.

“She’s been really homesick lately. You know she always keeps to herself with this issue and doesn’t like to talk too much about it, but the other morning she came to class with her eyes slightly red and a puffy nose and told me what was going on. It was her mom’s birthday recently and she’s sad she missed it.”

Dahyun nods in understanding, trying to hide how upset she feels. They had a dynamic where they never kept anything from the others, they always tried their best to communicate their feelings and fix any problems together; which is why Dahyun was a bit hurt Chaeyoung hadn’t let her know about it. She has been so busy lately, studying a lot and spending most of her time at school or in the library, she couldn’t check up on her girlfriend properly.

“I didn’t want to add to your worries.” Chaeyoung stops walking and cups Dahyun’s face, pouting at her and grazing her cheek. Dahyun closes her eyes and leans against Chaeyoung’s hand, enjoying her touch. It’s true that she had been very stressed, but she still wanted to be there for her girlfriends if they needed her.

“It’s ok, I understand.” 

“Do you think we should go see her?” 

“I think there are a few things we could do to cheer her up…” Dahyun mulls for a bit and takes out her phone, searching for food places nearby. 

About an hour later, they’re knocking on Tzuyu’s door with big take out bags on their hands. The youngest stays in a dorm building for exchange students not far from the school, so the girls have no trouble getting there and to her floor since the other residents already know them.

Tzuyu opens after three knocks. She’s in her pajamas, holding her stuffed dog under her arm, her hair is disheveled and her face looks puffy. She rubs her eyes and turns around, not wanting Dahyun and Chaeyoung to see her like that. Her girlfriends walk in and close the door behind them. Tzuyu’s bed looks messy, there are some tissues laying around and there’s a taiwanese show playing on the small TV. 

“You shouldn’t have bothered coming here.” Tzuyu sniffles and walks into the bathroom. The faucet starts running and a few seconds later Tzuyu comes out looking slightly more refreshed. 

She sits down on her bed and the girls sit on each side. Chaeyoung rests a comforting hand on her thigh and Dahyun grabs her hand, holding it in hers and rubbing a thumb over her knuckles. Tzuyu takes in a shaky breath and her shoulders tremble a little. 

“We love you, Tzu. We worry about you,” Chaeyoung mumbles, hating to see her girlfriend so sad and fragile. “You can always talk to us.”

“And even if you don’t want to talk, we’re always here to simply hold you or take your mind off things.” Dahyun says softly. She lifts a hand to move Tzuyu’s hair from her face and then leans in to kiss her cheek.

Tzuyu nods and lowers her head; she doesn’t like crying in front of people. “Thank you girls. I love you alright, I’m sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize, silly.” Chaeyoung kisses her shoulder and stands up to fetch the bags they left by the door. “Here, we brought something that might help a bit.”

She takes out boxes and cups full of different kinds of soup, dumplings, tofu, and other dishes they found on the menu of the take out place. Tzuyu’s demeanor changes just by the inviting smell of the food. 

Dahyun chuckles when Tzuyu gets up and helps Chaeyoung carry everything towards the small table she has on the corner of the room. Since the space is a bit cramped, they end up with Tzuyu sitting on Chaeyoung’s lap— comically so, because Chaeyoung can’t even see the table properly, but she insist on Tzuyu staying there —and Dahyun taking the chair in front of them. 

Tzuyu hums happily with each bite she takes and Dahyun is delighted to see she’s finally coming back to her usual happy self. Tzuyu tells them a bit about each dish and an anecdote related to her hometown. They love hearing about Tzuyu’s city and family, especially when the stories are told with a big smile on her face. 

“Oh! I almost forgot.” Dahyun clears her throat and stands up dramatically, making funny faces that are supposed to look serious. “I’ve been preparing something and I guess now is a good time as any to show you. It might not be perfect but…” 

Dahyun looks shy, which rarely happens, but she can’t help feeling a little pressure about doing well for Tzuyu. She starts singing beautifully; a tune Tzuyu recognizes immediately and makes tears well up in her eyes. 

Dahyun’s mandarin is a bit rough, she has problems pronouncing some words, but Tzuyu is amazed by the progress Dahyun has made since she last heard her speak mandarin. 

The song she’s singing is the one Tzuyu’s mom used to sing for her all the time when she was a child. She mentioned it once in passing, so she’s very surprised and touched that Dahyun remembered it and prepared it for her. Her voice sounds smooth and it fits the song perfectly. 

When she finishes the song, Tzuyu hugs Dahyun and tries hard to keep the (happy) tears in.

“Thank you. So much.” Tzuyu whispers against Dahyun’s hair. 

She always misses Taiwan, but she’s come to realize that she also has a piece of home in Korea.

**III.**

Dahyun rubs her tired eyes in pain. There’s an uncomfortable pressure in her forehead and it’s making it hard to read. She reaches for her fifth cup of coffee of the day only to see it’s empty. She sighs and stretches her back, groaning when some bones crack. 

She checks her phone and sees that it’s already eleven p.m, which means she should probably leave the library and keep studying at home, or else the guard might have to ask her to leave while he closes. Again.

She also checks her texts app, but there’s nothing. The last message on the groupchat with her girlfriends is Chaeyoung’s reply to a dog video Tzuyu sent in the morning. There’s nothing in the individual chats either, but Dahyun locks her phone and tries to not think about it too much. They are busy with their own stuff.

Dahyun walks through the campus towards her dorm. Her roommate Mina is there, which is weird considering she’s always staying at her girlfriend’s. Dahyun greets her and plops down on her bed. She meant to continue studying, but her stomach feels awfully empty and the headache has only gotten worse. She eyes her bag at the foot of her bed, filled with books and papers and notes… she decides it’s better to eat something and if she feels better, then she’ll study. 

Mina offers to make some ramen for her (bless her) and Dahyun thanks her endlessly. She heads to the shower and by the time she’s out, a warm cup of noodles is waiting for her. Mina is busy writing on her laptop, so Dahyun pops in her earphones and rests her back on the wall against her bed while she takes big bites of her food. 

Her mind wanders to her girlfriends, and how she hasn’t heard from them all day. She opens instagram and sees there’s a story in Chaeyoung’s profile. Her thumb hovers over the icon for a second before she presses it.

It’s a lovely picture of Tzuyu in the classroom, asleep on her desk using Chaeyoung’s hoodie as a pillow. The next one is of Chaeyoung with some friends in the school cafeteria, and then one of Tzuyu and Chaeyoung lying on the grass under the sun. 

Dahyun smiles, but something hurts. She pauses on the last picture and eyes it carefully. Her girlfriends look pretty as ever and very happy, the sunlight making them look ethereal. Dahyun loves them so much, but sometimes she can’t help worrying. 

Even if they’re only a year apart, they’re in different stages of life. Sometimes they talk about senior parties and events that Dahyun has already had, or they talk about school related stuff and Dahyun has a hard time keeping up and knowing what or who they’re talking about. And at the same time— although she knows it’s silly —she can’t help but feel old. She surely feels like she’s lost years of her life studying for finals; but when she thinks about their past together, it feels like ten years have passed instead of four. Dahyun thinks about when Chaeyoung and her met in middle school and how quickly they became friends; she remembers Tzuyu’s first day in school and how Chaeyoung immediately took care of her and showed her around despite the big language barrier at the time. She remembers the day they became girlfriends— it had been building up, really, and it happened seamlessly, it felt like everything finally fit into place. Now she feels like they don’t need her as much as they did back then.

Dahyun locks the phone and puts it away. She’s getting too sad and the last thing she needs is to cry and make her headache worse. She throws the empty cup away and gets ready for bed.

She must’ve been really exhausted, because in the morning she doesn’t remember falling asleep. She wakes up five minutes before her alarm, so she stays in bed enjoying the warmth before she has to get up and face another miserable day of studying. 

The door opens and Dahyun thinks it’s Mina, maybe she forgot something when she left. But it’s not Mina, which is why Dahyun shrieks in fear when a body falls on top of hers.

“I told you you’d scare her!” Tzuyu laughs and pulls Chaeyoung up from the bed. Dahyun sits up and slaps Chaeyoung’s arm. Her heart is beating erratically and there are her girlfriends, laughing at her.

“What are you doing here? How’d you even get in?”

“Mina said she’d leave the door unlocked,” Chaeyoung shrugs. “She texted me last night saying you got here late and looked exhausted.”

“Gee, thanks.” Dahyun throws the covers away from her and goes to wash up.

“Come on, we’re here on girlfriend duties.” Tzuyu starts making Dahyun’s bed while Chaeyoung talks to Dahyun through the bathroom door. 

“I have to study.”

“It’s a saturday!” 

“Yeah, last saturday before my exam. I need to study.” Dahyun comes out of the bathroom dressed and with her hair tied in a ponytail. She reaches for her bag but Chaeyoung stops her, holding onto both of her wrists and sneaking a kiss on her lips (Dahyun smiles despite trying to look tough, and Chaeyoung knows they’ve won).

“You’re so tired all the time,” Tzuyu scolds her and kisses her as well. “What if you fall asleep the day of your exam? Or you’re so stressed that you get sick?”

Dahyun sighs and looks between her girlfriends with a tired look. “Alright, you have a point.”

“Great! You’ll spend the day relaxing with us then.” Chaeyoung doesn’t give her time to complain before she drags her out of the room. 

Tzuyu and Chaeyoung each hold one of her hands while they walk down the street. They take Dahyun for breakfast and order a huge slice of chocolate cake, which they end up sharing. They talk about the show they’re currently watching, and Dahyun is relieved to be fully included in the conversation.

After they’re done with breakfast, they go to a small square near the high school. Dahyun feels a wave of nostalgia hit her; she hasn’t been there in quite a while but it’s still the same as she remembers.

When they first started hanging out together, they spent all their time there; on the swings, on the picnic tables, lying on the grass, and in the summer they sat under the trees and ate ice cream. They stopped going when Dahyun started her senior year, since she was class president and had a lot of duties and not much free time. 

Apparently the nostalgia got the best of her, because she gets startled when she feels Tzuyu’s hand wiping away a tear falling down her cheek.

“Are you ok?” She asks softly, reaching out to hold Dahyun’s hand. Dahyun chuckles and nods, wiping away the rest of her tears. Chaeyoung hugs her waist and rests her head on Dahyun’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry… I’ve been kinda overwhelmed lately.”

“We know.” Chaeyoung lifts her head and kisses Dahyun sweetly. “That’s why we wanted you to take a break.”

“You’re always there for us, and we want you to know we’re always here for you, too.” Tzuyu says. 

“When did I get so lucky?” Dahyun smiles, feeling a weight be lifted off her. It was silly to even think about her girlfriends loving her any less.

“Don’t get cheesy now. Come on, I’ll push you on the swing.” Chaeyoung nudges her playfully. 

Dahyun does as she’s told and sits on the swing. As always, Chaeyoung pushes her too high, so Dahyun ends up half giggling half screaming, while Tzuyu facepalms next to them on the other swing. 

When she manages to free herself from Chaeyoung, it’s Tzuyu’s turn to get on the swing. Chaeyoung goes a bit easier on her, but it’s still pretty high. Dahyun watches from the side, her heart feels warm seeing her girlfriends so happy. She sighs and can’t help thinking that yes, she’s the luckiest girl in the world.


End file.
